Poetry Trivia
Poetry trivia explores one of literature’s oldest and most enduring art forms, from epic and sonnet traditions to modern free verse. Expect questions that touch on famous poets, landmark works, literary devices, and the cultural history that has shaped how poetry is written, performed, and remembered.
Easy Poetry Trivia
13 questions
These easy Poetry trivia questions are great for beginners and kids around age 12 and under.
Question 1
How many lines does a traditional sonnet have?
Answer: 14 lines
A traditional sonnet is known for having 14 lines.
Question 2
A quatrain contains how many lines?
Answer: Four lines
A quatrain is a stanza made up of four lines.
Question 3
Haiku developed in which country?
Answer: Japan
Haiku developed in Japan.
Question 4
Who wrote the poem "The Raven"?
Answer: Edgar Allan Poe
"The Raven" was written by Edgar Allan Poe.
Question 5
"Ode to a Nightingale" was written by which poet?
Answer: John Keats
John Keats wrote "Ode to a Nightingale.".
Question 6
Allen Ginsberg is strongly associated with what literary movement?
Answer: The Beat Generation
Allen Ginsberg was a leading poet of the Beat Generation.
Question 7
Langston Hughes was a major voice of which cultural movement?
Answer: The Harlem Renaissance
Langston Hughes was a major voice of the Harlem Renaissance.
Question 8
Who is the author of "The Divine Comedy"?
Answer: Dante Alighieri
"The Divine Comedy" was written by Dante Alighieri.
Question 9
In iambic pentameter, how many iambs are in each line?
Answer: Five iambs
Iambic pentameter consists of five iambs per line.
Question 10
What kind of poem is an epic?
Answer: A long narrative poem centered on heroic actions
An epic is a long narrative poem focused on heroic actions.
Question 11
Who wrote "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"?
Answer: William Wordsworth
"I Wandered Lonely is a Cloud" was written by William Wordsworth.
Question 12
Which poet wrote "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"?
Answer: Robert Frost
Robert Frost wrote "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening.".
Question 13
Emily Dickinson lived much of her life in what Massachusetts town?
Answer: Amherst, Massachusetts
Emily Dickinson lived much of her life in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Poetry Family Trivia
12 questions
These family Poetry trivia questions are built for mixed-age game nights, classrooms, and groups.
Question 1
Who read "The Hill We Climb" at the 2021 U.S. presidential inauguration?
Answer: Amanda Gorman
Amanda Gorman read "The Hill We Climb" at the 2021 U.S. presidential inauguration.
Question 2
In what year did Rabindranath Tagore win the Nobel Prize in Literature?
- A.1921
- B.1933
- C.1913
- D.1905
Answer: 1913
Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.
Question 3
Gwendolyn Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in what year?
Answer: 1950
Gwendolyn Brooks won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1950.
Question 4
Seamus Heaney was born in which part of the world?
- A.Scotland
- B.Wales
- C.England
- D.Northern Ireland
Answer: Northern Ireland
Seamus Heaney was born in Northern Ireland.
Question 5
Robert Burns was born in which Scottish town?
Answer: Alloway
Robert Burns was born in Alloway, Scotland.
Question 6
Which Welsh city was the birthplace of Dylan Thomas?
Answer: Swansea
Dylan Thomas was born in Swansea, Wales.
Question 7
Fernando Pessoa wrote primarily in which language?
Answer: Portuguese
Fernando Pessoa wrote primarily in Portuguese.
Question 8
True or false: Elizabeth Bishop won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1956.?
Answer: True
That statement is correct: Elizabeth Bishop won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1956.
Question 9
Percy Bysshe Shelley was married to which author?
Answer: Mary Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was married to Mary Shelley.
Question 10
Who wrote "Paradise Lost"?
Answer: John Milton
John Milton wrote "Paradise Lost.".
Question 11
Wilfred Owen served in which war?
Answer: World War I
Wilfred Owen served in World War I.
Question 12
Anna Akhmatova was a poet from which country?
Answer: Russia
Anna Akhmatova was a Russian poet.
Fun Poetry Trivia
13 questions
These fun Poetry trivia questions highlight surprising moments and playful facts for game-night groups.
Question 1
Which poet is most famously linked with haiku?
Answer: Matsuo Basho
Matsuo Basho is famous for haiku.
Question 2
Who took an editorial red pencil to T. S. Eliot's poem "The Waste Land"?
Answer: Ezra Pound
Ezra Pound edited T. S. Eliot's poem "The Waste Land.".
Question 3
Which poet wrote the sequence called "The Bridge"?
Answer: Hart Crane
Hart Crane wrote the poem sequence "The Bridge.".
Question 4
What poem opens Hart Crane's "The Bridge"?
Answer: To Brooklyn Bridge
Hart Crane's poem "To Brooklyn Bridge" opens "The Bridge.".
Question 5
By day, Wallace Stevens worked in what profession?
Answer: insurance executive
Wallace Stevens worked is an insurance executive.
Question 6
Which poet often styled his name in lowercase as "e. e. cummings"?
Answer: E. E. Cummings
E. E. Cummings often wrote his name in lowercase is e. e. cummings.
Question 7
Which Shel Silverstein collection invited readers to wander to "the sidewalk's end"?
Answer: Where the Sidewalk Ends
Shel Silverstein wrote the poetry collection "Where the Sidewalk Ends.".
Question 8
Who served as the first U.S. Children's Poet Laureate?
Answer: Jack Prelutsky
Jack Prelutsky served is the first U.S. Children's Poet Laureate.
Question 9
Who wrote the gloriously nonsense-filled poem "Jabberwocky"?
Answer: Lewis Carroll
The poem "Jabberwocky" was written by Lewis Carroll.
Question 10
Who sent "The Owl and the Pussy-cat" sailing away together?
Answer: Edward Lear
"The Owl and the Pussy-cat" was written by Edward Lear.
Question 11
If a stanza is a tercet, how many lines does it have?
- A.three lines
- B.two lines
- C.four lines
- D.five lines
Answer: three lines
A tercet is a stanza of three lines.
Question 12
A villanelle is built to a very specific length. How many lines does it have?
Answer: 19 lines
A villanelle has 19 lines.
Question 13
Which poetic form uses six six-line stanzas followed by a three-line envoy?
Answer: sestina
A sestina has six stanzas of six lines followed by a three-line envoy.
Funny Poetry Trivia
13 questions
These funny Poetry trivia questions highlight playful moments, odd facts, and inside jokes.
Question 1
Which poet gave literature one very unimpressed bovine by writing the comic poem "The Cow"?
- A.Ogden Nash
- B.Dorothy Parker
- C.Spike Milligan
- D.Edward Lear
Answer: Ogden Nash
Ogden Nash wrote the comic poem "The Cow.".
Question 2
Who wrote the short poem "Résumé," proving that brevity can still bite?
Answer: Dorothy Parker
The short poem "Résumé" was written by Dorothy Parker.
Question 3
Who wrote the comic poem "The Orange," making citrus unexpectedly literary?
- A.Pam Ayres
- B.Brian Bilston
- C.Wendy Cope
- D.Dorothy Parker
Answer: Wendy Cope
Wendy Cope wrote the comic poem "The Orange.".
Question 4
In a household standoff for the ages, who wrote "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out"?
Answer: Shel Silverstein
"Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out" was written by Shel Silverstein.
Question 5
"Jabberwocky" appears in which Lewis Carroll book?
Answer: Through the Looking-Glass
Lewis Carroll included "Jabberwocky" in "Through the Looking-Glass.".
Question 6
Which poet wrote "This Is Just to Say," the famously apologetic plum-related poem?
Answer: William Carlos Williams
The humorous poem "This Is Just to Say" was written by William Carlos Williams.
Question 7
Roald Dahl turned his imagination toward poetic creatures in which collection?
Answer: Dirty Beasts
Roald Dahl wrote the poetry collection "Dirty Beasts.".
Question 8
Who wrote the cautionary poem with the wonderfully alarming title "Jim, Who Ran Away from His Nurse, and Was Eaten by a Lion"?
- A.Hilaire Belloc
- B.Edward Lear
- C.Lewis Carroll
- D.Spike Milligan
Answer: Hilaire Belloc
Hilaire Belloc wrote "Jim, Who Ran Away from His Nurse, and Was Eaten by a Lion.".
Question 9
Who wrote the gloriously nonsensical poem "On the Ning Nang Nong"?
Answer: Spike Milligan
Spike Milligan wrote the comic poem "On the Ning Nang Nong.".
Question 10
Which poet wrote the verse novel "Don Juan"?
Answer: Lord Byron
The verse novel "Don Juan" was written by Lord Byron.
Question 11
Which British comic poet is known for humorous verse and a distinctive performance style?
Answer: Pam Ayres
Pam Ayres is known is a British comic poet.
Question 12
Dr. Seuss wrote which poem title that sounds like motivational advice with a rhyme budget?
Answer: You Were You
"You Were You" is a poem written by Dr. Seuss.
Question 13
Whose classroom comedy includes the poem "Our Teacher's a Football Fanatic"?
Answer: Kenn Nesbitt
The comic poem "Our Teacher's a Football Fanatic" was written by Kenn Nesbitt.
Hard Poetry Trivia
14 questions
These hard Poetry trivia questions are for expert fans who want a real challenge.
Question 1
In what language does Chaucer open "The Canterbury Tales" with the famous phrase "Whan that Aprille..."?
- A.Anglo-Norman French
- B.Middle English
- C.Old English
- D.Early Modern English
Answer: Middle English
The opening "Whan that Aprille..." is in Middle English.
Question 2
What is the manuscript designation of the sole surviving copy of "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight"?
- A.Cotton Vitellius A.xv
- B.Harley 2253
- C.Bodleian Laud Misc. 108
- D.Cotton Nero
Answer: Cotton Nero A.x
"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" survives in a single manuscript known is Cotton Nero A.x.
Question 3
What year saw the first publication of "Lyrical Ballads"?
- A.1800
- B.1812
- C.1798
- D.1797
Answer: 1798
"Lyrical Ballads" was first published in 1798.
Question 4
Which two poets jointly authored "Lyrical Ballads"?
- A.William Wordsworth and Robert Southey
- B.Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats
- C.Wordsworth and Coleridge
- D.William Blake and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Answer: William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The joint authors of "Lyrical Ballads" were William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Question 5
How many lines are in a Spenserian stanza?
- A.Eight lines
- B.Ten lines
- C.Nine lines
- D.Seven lines
Answer: Nine lines
The Spenserian stanza has nine lines.
Question 6
Which rhyme pattern identifies terza rima?
- A.aa bb cc
- B.aba bcb cdc
- C.abab bcbc cdcd
- D.ababbcbcc
Answer: aba bcb cdc
Terza rima uses the interlocking rhyme scheme aba bcb cdc.
Question 7
Ottava rima is defined by what stanza length?
- A.A seven-line stanza
- B.A nine-line stanza
- C.Eight lines
- D.A six-line stanza
Answer: An eight-line stanza
Ottava rima is an eight-line stanza form.
Question 8
The Homeric epics are composed in which meter?
- A.Elegiac couplets
- B.Dactylic hexameter
- C.Iambic pentameter
- D.Trochaic tetrameter
Answer: Dactylic hexameter
The Homeric epics were composed in dactylic hexameter.
Question 9
What is the primary verse mode of the Old English poem "Beowulf"?
- A.Blank verse
- B.Heroic couplets
- C.Terza rima
- D.Alliterative verse
Answer: Alliterative verse
"Beowulf" is written primarily in alliterative verse.
Question 10
Milton kicks off "Paradise Lost" by invoking whom or what?
- A.Heav'nly Muse
- B.Calliope
- C.Urania
- D.The Holy Spirit
Answer: The Heav'nly Muse
The opening of "Paradise Lost" invokes the "Heav'nly Muse.".
Question 11
Into what two parts does the Petrarchan sonnet typically divide?
- A.An octave and a couplet
- B.Octave and sestet
- C.Three quatrains and a couplet
- D.Two sestets
Answer: An octave and a sestet
The Petrarchan sonnet typically divides into an octave and a sestet.
Question 12
Which rhyme scheme is standard for the Shakespearean sonnet?
- A.aabb ccdd eeff gg
- B.abab cdcd efef gg
- C.abba abba cde cde
- D.aba bcb cdc ded
Answer: abab cdcd efef gg
The Shakespearean sonnet usually follows the rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg.
Question 13
A heroic couplet is written in what meter-and-rhyme combination?
- A.Unrhymed iambic pentameter
- B.Rhymed dactylic hexameter
- C.Rhymed trochaic tetrameter
- D.Rhymed iambic pentameter
Answer: Rhymed iambic pentameter
A heroic couplet is written in rhymed iambic pentameter.
Question 14
If someone in a poetry seminar says just "Decorum Est," which Wilfred Owen poem are they shortening?
- A.Anthem for Doomed Youth
- B.Strange Meeting
- C.Exposure
- D.Decorum Est
Answer: Dulce et Decorum Est
"Decorum Est" refers to Wilfred Owen's poem "Dulce et Decorum Est.".
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